Classical music for beginners

I’d quite like to listen to some classical music but, having absolutely zero knowledge of it, I have no idea where to start.

Can anyone suggest any albums/playlists/composers someone who normally listens to house music should start with?

Spotify links always appreciated!

I really enjoy listening to Scala radio. Nice mix of the classics, film and game soundtracks. Classic fm seems to have upped their game too.

Well for me, a good warm up is bolero or the planets.

You need to play it loud though.

A bit of Paganinis 24 caprices particularly 24 you might recognise.

Like all other genres, you’re gonna like what you like and not what you don’t.

Mozart, in particular the Marriage of Figaro.
Then try stuff you might know because they were used in ads. Eg Delibes (flower duet, used by BA), Purcell (you’ll probably recognise Dido’s lament from Dido and Aeneas) or how about the ballet Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian (the adagio was a popular TV theme). Finally Wagner, epic bullsh@t, but magnificent with it. My favourite is the Flying Dutchman.
There used to be a record label called Naxos they put out good stuff. Otherwise look for recordings by the larger European and North American Orchestras.
Enjoy.

There are box sets of a couple or 3 discs with a mix of the most popular movements from the most popular symphonies from the most popular composers. Listen to a couple of those, see which ones you like. Then you can try listening to the whole thing. That will give you a guide to what period and styles you favour, then you can build from there. Like a lot of classical music, some movements from a symphony are great but the rest is meh.

Try this

https://www.discogs.com/release/4204097-Various-The-Classic-Experience

As above, get some compilations with a variety of stuff to see what you actually like, or stick on Classic FM for a bit and make a note of stuff that grabs your ear.

Bach is the greatest of the Baroque period, Mozart of the Classical and Beethoven transitioned from the Classical to the Romantic period. I would listen to a variety of works by these three and then explore the period of the one you like most and move on to another period, including more modern stuff when you are ready. Streaming seems to be the way now but Libraries often have good selections of classical CDs to borrow if you prefer that format.

Classic FM is an easy intro although you’ll quickly find that they actually have a fairly limited range of “the popular” stuff.

Bach is the greatest of the Baroque period, Mozart of the Classical and Beethoven transitioned from the Classical to the Romantic period.

And both of the latter learnt much of their craft from Haydn who wrote more than twice as many symphonies as Mozart and Beethoven put together.

That’s really difficult, the most obvious might be something like Tchaikovsky’s 12th, which might be considered’ house music’ in some performances, because it celebrates Russia’s victory over Napoleon, you hear bits of certain French tunes, but because some performances use real cannon! There’s a version on the Telarc label which carries a warning because it’s capable of destroying speakers. It could literally bring the house down.

Just to add, here’s a review of the original Telarc vinyl release of the 1812, along with the CD version, and they emphasised the havoc that the transients can wreak on a hifi system if you aren’t careful!

I listened to the version I posted above through a pair of decent quality IEM’s, and you can feel the pressure wave from the explosions on your eardrums!

And both of the latter learnt much of their craft from Haydn who wrote more than twice as many symphonies as Mozart and Beethoven put together

Of course, but there is a reason the three I mentioned will be pretty much in everyone’s top 5 or 10 of the greatest composers. they are generally regarded as the most popular so a good place to start to see if any of the most important periods particular attracts you. I love Mahler who is even later, but I think these three illustrate how music developed and is as good a place to start as any. It also provides some structure to future exploration, which listening to 20 Greatest Classics does not provide so easily.

I’d suggest going more modern, to see if that’s more to your liking.
Maybe try:
Britten, Janacek, Mahler, Webern,…
Philip Glass is quite different again. You could do worse than watch the film Koyannisqatsi, which is set to his music, which is in full on YouTube.

imho

Mozart (Requiem aside) if you like the Beatles ; )

I’m going to recommend good old bbc radio 3.

I wake up to it on my alarm clock, but it sometimes gets left on at the weekends and even occasionally at work if 6 music has gone annoying. It’s not just classical though, there’s a bit of choral and even a bit of jazz/world at the weekend. A bit of a gem I think. Ad free and relatively waffle free too.

I love ‘classical’ music, except that really overwrought 20th century stuff that always seems to be getting higher. Must’ve been anxious times. Or the composers skipped all the release modules and just did the tension bits of the course ;)

Can anyone suggest any albums/playlists/composers someone who normally listens to house music should start with?

Love house music. Especially the Naked Music (deep house/downtempo) recordings. Minimalist/ambient techno is another thing which has roots in classical. I can listen to it all day for some reason.

Also love some classical. Sibelius especially

Pulsing motifs and rising crescendos?

Maybe check out Wolfgang Voigt’s ‘Gas’ project? He cites the classical music of Richard Wagner and Arnold Schoenberg as inspiration, so there maybe another couple of waypoints?

Obvious examples of more contemporary composers/classical crossovers are Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Karlheinz Stockhausen etc. And Terry Riley:

Well for me, a good warm up is bolero

+1. Except I’m a Philistine and always seem to use it for a pomodoro-technique intense housework interval/ritual. 15 mins of musical perfection and tidying!
🎼🎶🧹🧽

Chopin. Maybe holds special resonance for me as my grandpa can still play it pretty damn well aged 99 but I love almost everything by Chopin.

Clemency Burton-Hill has a book called Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day. She suggests a short piece of classical music to listen to, every day for a year, and covers a wide variety of periods and styles. The book has a Spotify playlist so that it’s easy to find each piece. Might be a way to get a feel for what you like. I believe she has also written a follow-up book – Another Year of Wonder. Hope you find something you like. 🙂

Edit:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GHTAITHgzLCDwWZYjxzOPhttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GHTAITHgzLCDwWZYjxzOP

Classical music is also different from jazz because true jazz is improvised. However, the differences are not always obvious. Classical music has often been inspired by jazz, and jazz by classical music. George Gershwin wrote music which is both jazz and classical. Classical music, too, can be improvised. The great composers Bach, Mozart and Beethoven often improvised long pieces of music on the organ, harpsichord or piano. Sometimes they wrote these improvistions down. They were, in effect, compositions which were composed in one go.https://shrinke.me/IcxP

There’s a decent channel on YouTube:

Has a little bit of info about the pieces, which I find helpful.

Not strictly classical, but a good start coming from house music is Islands by Luciano Einaudi

Like a lot of classical music, some movements from a symphony are great but the rest is meh.

This is also true of opera – a couple of great songs but an awful lot of filler that’s just there to move the plot along. Don’t get discouraged if you decide, on the basis of one great tune, to try the whole piece and find you don’t enjoy it!

Have a look through listings for your local live classical concerts. The difference between a recording and being physically there is like night and day.

Right now I’m listening to Shostakovitch 7 on Spotify, and it’s fine, but compared to the time I heard it live a few years back, it’s pallid and insipid.

I agree with the other post about Scala, find it much more listenable then classic FM.

I also found videos from this YT channel a good steer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u9XBhI0d9s

Seeing as Shostakovich was mentioned, I’ll bang on about this incredible story again.

We may be stepping out of conventional comfort zones, but have you tried listening to choral music? I’m not necessarily talking about the grand stuff like Handel’s Messiah, although that can be pretty amazing in its own right, I’m on about music written for the human voice.

My early music years were shaped through singing in a choir, and now really enjoy singing in two very different choirs-one a Male Voice Choir, which mixes traditional Male Voice fare with adaptations and arrangements of modern stuff. The other a church choir, with a standard that surpasses yer average current-day church choir.

Have a listen to some really good quality early choral stuff. My absolute favourites are early English and Venetian/Italian polyphony. The guy who directs “The Sixteen” used to sing in the same choir that I did many, many years ago, so it comes as no surprise that he ticks all my boxes when it comes to their repertoire.

Here are a few to have a go at. You never know!

Start with the well known pieces from the mainstream composers and go from there. The main issue you’ll have with this stuff is that while a site like say Spotify will have a Mozart Clarinet Concerto, or Bach’s cello test pieces, it’s often just has a generic version of it played by the Bob’s Your Uncle Orchestra.

Agree that R3 is a great resource, and some of the specialist streaming services – Adagio or Primephonic are good resources, and have a “best of selection” that’s often chosen with more care.

My suggestions

Mozart – Mass 19 in D minor (London philharmonic if you can)

Satie’s Gymnopedie – perfect from the hands of a mad man (only ate white food, as you do)

Debussey’s Clair Du Lune – the music that Satie couldn’t write, but tried to

Mozart Clarinet Concerto A Major – try to get hold of the Berlin Concerto Orchestra for this

Rachmaninov’s Vespers. OP37 – Priidite  Russians – singing, about how awful God is to them.

Handel – Semele – Act 2 Oh sleep why dost thou leave me – is an almost perfect baroque Opera piece. the Renne Fleming version (she’s a counter tenor/Soprano rather than castrati, if we’re being picky, but y’know…)

Handel – Lascia ch’io pianga  (let me weep) – From Rinaldo – Because every one wants to sing about how they feel when they’ve been abducted, right?

If you just want to dip in to find out what you like, then you could try In Tune Mixtape on R3 every weekday at 7pm. Relatively short excerpts from a wide variety of composers, styles, centuries. If you like the sound of something you can then find the whole work on spotify.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b096ykj4

The Clemency Burton-Hill book recommendation above is a good shout too, because it provides a bit of context for each recommendation.

Seeing as Shostakovich was mentioned, I’ll bang on about this incredible story again.

New to me, thanks for posting. Remarkable story – very moving.

That’s a lovely version of Miserere Mei @Scapegoat, thanks

to be played at full tilt

such a talent and such a sad story

Bach: Brandenbergs, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, harpsichord and cello concertos (YoYo Ma is a good one)
Mozart: Requiem
Vivaldi: Stabat Mater (James Bowman)
Pachelbel: Canon
Opera hits: Nessun Dorma (Franco Corelli?), What is Life (Kathleen Ferrier), Benjamino Gigli

Expose yourself to a load on eg R3 or ClassicFM and sort out what you do and don’t like

That’s a lovely version of Miserere Mei @Scapegoat, thanks

If you can withstand listening to another version, @nickc here’s one we did during lockdown. Not quite the same standard, but for a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs recording at home……

Just turn to Radio 3 and listen. Excellent programs that are very accessible. Building a library on Saturday has to be the bitchiest thing on radio, as artists compare recordings and select the most suitable for a library.

And listen to some Stravinsky. Firebird Suite is a bit cliched now, and overplayed.

There was a riot at the Rite of Spring premiere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22691267

If you can withstand listening to another version

Really lovely, well done! that must have taken some post performance mixing?

I would certainly agree with the suggestion of Radio 3. Great range of music (much more so than the “safe” Classic FM). Excellent engaging and knowledgeable presenters (it’s not like the old Third Programme dinner jacket style).

It’s hard to suggest a particular era or genre of music which might suit you. There are the big 3 mentioned above Bach, Mozart, Beethoven all of who I love, but for me, coming from 70s prog rock when first started listening to classical, I approached more modern stuff first and in particular Stravinsky. Rite of Spring and The Firebird for starters.

I think 20th century works somehow speak directly to us in a way that earlier works don’t and in that category I would echo the suggestions of Mahler (try Symphonies 1, 2, 4 for starters – leave 9 for later!) and definitely Shostakovich (Symphonies 5, 7, 8, 10 are my favourites). More modern still is the minimalist school, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams and you might dip a toe into the “Second Viennese School” from the early 20th century – Schoenberg, Berg, Webern. Very interesting use of harmonies (and dissonance).

I’m going to put in a plug for possibly my favourite composer, Benjamin Britten. But not symphonic works (though there is the excellent “Sinfonia Da Requiem”) rather the sublime string quartets. You MUST listen to string quartets, they are one of the finest ensembles in all of music (and that’s from a wind player!). Also really jumping in deep try Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. Wonderful story telling and fabulous music – though even better to watch than listen too.

I’ll stop now with just a brief mention of Mozart’s Serenade No. 10 – the “Gran Partita”. So much brilliant music in one piece.

Oh and Ligeti, you have to listen to Ligeti!

OK, OK I’ll go.

I’d recommend listening to an album of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music. Instantly accessible and some great “tunes”. Some you will no doubt recognise too.

For me it was the 1812 Overture that got me into classical music. I remember hearing a version (okay I was drunk at the time) that used real cannons and thinking “Wow, I’ve only ever heard AC/DC use cannons before.”

For radio listening I really like Essential Classics which is on Radio 3 every weekday morning. You won’t like everything on it (it’s a real mix) but I’ve encountered a few composers on their I’d never heard of and loved their stuff.

Any of the well known Beethoven stuff too is an easy access point. His 3rd and 5th symphonies particularly.

More modern still is the minimalist school, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams

Seconded… this gets played quite a bit…

Short Ride in a Fast Machine

Just listen to Radio 3 for a month. Composer of the Week is at noon and always an education too.

The In Tune Mixtape on Radio 3, and Essential Classics, are both good places to start. Accesible in the way that Classic FM is, but without the adverts. You have to put up with more opera than on Classic FM but three minutes of out of context opera an hour is a small price to pay compared to fifteen minutes of adverts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001276t

I’d also add avoiding spotify to start off with – the radio stations all have the best recordings by the best orchestras and that makes a real difference to how enjoyable it is. Spotify has them all but a lot of their curated playlists also contain a lot of lower quality recordings that can sound a bit naff and not very enjoyable.

https://halloffame.classicfm.com/2021/

Classic FM’s Hall of Fame – not a bad place to start for a Greatest Hits of Classical type list.

Really lovely, well done! that must have taken some post performance mixing?

We started recording virtual services at the start of the first lockdown. Initially we simply recorded direct into our phones while listening to the backing through headphones/earbuds, then sent the result into one of the guys to be overlayed on the final track. Those first attempts were patchy in terms of quality so a few of us explored better ways to record. You can get a surprising quality condenser mic for a few quid on the old eBay, but for me the breakthrough was treating myself to a decent interface. It somehow evolved into several of us with Focusrites and decent mics, although several still used their iPhones. Jim, who produced the Audio was learning as he went along, and would feel his way with enhancing individual voices then mixing the whole after cleaning up any noise, then eventually adding the final touches.

The video there is an extract from a much longer work which needed video footage of us singing or miming to the piece, so it could be stitched into the video. Again, it’s all webcam or iPhone footage. Here’s the whole piece, but you’ll be best skipping to 18m40s for Bruckner’s Christus Factus Est, 24m20s for Wilson’s A Purple Robe, 31m24s for my favourite Lotti’s Crucifixus for Eight voices and the Miserere you’ve already heard at 37m25s.